The present invention relates to a method for determining amounts of CO.sub.2 (carbon dioxide), O.sub.2 (oxygen) and N.sub.2 (nitrogen) gases dissolved in a liquid sample and an apparatus for performing the method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for extracting a sample of gases dissolved in a liquid and measuring the gas sample extracted for quantities of the respective CO.sub.2, O.sub.2 and N.sub.2 gases and determining their concentrations in the liquid from known solubility values.
In order to achieve good quality control carbonated beverages in either bottling plants or trade sample laboratories, it is necessary to measure the concentrations of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen gases dissolved in liquid solutions. These are the primary gases of interest when evaluating the quality of carbonated soft drinks. Generally, the commercial techniques presently known to measure any one of these gases are slow, expensive, inaccurate, or simply not suitable for use in bottling plants or trade sample laboratories.
Accordingly, a need in the art exists for an improved technique to simultaneously measure the concentrations of (CO.sub.2) carbon dioxide, (O.sub.2) oxygen, and (N.sub.2) nitrogen gases dissolved in liquid solutions such as carbonated soft drinks.